Example sentences of "refuse to be " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | If he could help himself this would be mental vandalism ; but he ca n't ; Stavrogin 's are yawns that refuse to be stifled ; automatism and involuntarism are finally one , and the tragic villain-hero who at once apprehends the ‘ sensible idea ’ and yawns at it betrays a high but helpless intelligence recalling Raskolnikov as well as Svidrigailov . |
| 2 | Although US officials refuse to be pinned down on how long occupying troops will be needed in Panama , they talk in terms of sooner rather than later . |
| 3 | I 've got one life , she told herself : I refuse to be unhappy any more . |
| 4 | At first I had suggested that I should keep her company but she dismissed the idea at once : ‘ I am not a child , and I refuse to be treated as one ’ , and I guessed she wanted to be alone rather as a young girl might who sets out to post an imaginary letter , hoping to meet on the way the person for whom she has made herself beautiful . |
| 5 | ABS-modulated brakes produce brief tyre squawks in hard stops , but refuse to be flustered by driver panic . |
| 6 | By that I mean those of us who do n't fit in to the stereotypes created by our culture , and refuse to be ; for example , such like myself who are n't rapacious materialists , fashion victims , empty-headed bimbos , domineering matriarchs who perpetually have a pan of chicken soup on the hob and a home-made cake ready for everloving family to devour . |
| 7 | Walkers who have no desire to locate the potholes of Newby Moss and refuse to be deflected from their intention to reach the top of Ingleborough can best achieve their objective by continuing upwards , guided by Grey Wife Sike across the rough and rising terrain of Ingleborough Common . |
| 8 | However , there may be a small minority of residents who refuse to be kept clean . |
| 9 | She 'll squirm in her ermine , refuse to be shook — |
| 10 | They simply refuse to be grown in artificial culture . |
| 11 | What with piles of ironing ( this was during my disorganised period ) , mountains of books ( I refuse to be parted from them ) , and various bric-a-brac , my flat always looked like a junkyard . |
| 12 | Of course we refuse to be biologically determined in that simple sense ; but biology is integrally us . |
| 13 | They are very single-minded , refuse to be dominated by other dogs and will gladly dominate their owners , too , if given the opportunity ! |
| 14 | To a degree unknown in any other use of language he finds himself not only attending to what is said but simultaneously hearing the words as textures of vowels and consonants , noting rhythm , rhyme , assonance ; meanings refuse to be tied down , disclose nuances and associations of which he has never been conscious ; sights and sounds which he has never heeded become sensuously precise and vivid in imagination ; emotion assumes a peculiar lucidity , undisguised by what he habitually feels or has been taught that he ought to feel ; truths about life and death , which he follows social convention in systematically evading , stand out as simple and unchallengeable . |
| 15 | European farmers ' leader Constantin Heereman said : ‘ We refuse to be sacrificed for the sole interest and profit of the US and a few multinational corporations . |
| 16 | ‘ A question I refuse to be drawn on . |
| 17 | I refuse to be fragmented , yet I feel so . |
| 18 | We all know how sometimes the stitches stubbornly refuse to be crossed and these definitely had a mind of their own . |
| 19 | I refuse to be scared of living there . ’ |
| 20 | Only the really great champions refuse to be sidetracked by any of these minor problems . |
| 21 | If the pair of you would rather stay away , then so be it ; but you must not be surprised if the rest of us refuse to be inconvenienced by such behaviour . ’ |
| 22 | The rebuttal had done her no good whatsoever , her face was going blotchy , but she mustered all the sang-froid she could and continued , ‘ Since you refuse to be civil I shall not moderate my criticism . |
| 23 | Nevertheless , developing and maintaining standards of high quality practice in mental health services , especially those providing ‘ round the clock ’ care in hospitals and residential homes , is an uphill struggle and people who depend on others to provide the basic necessities of life for most of their lives are necessarily vulnerable as they are not in a position to complain effectively , ‘ vote with their feet ’ or refuse to be consumers of a bad service . |
| 24 | Therefore , refuse to be browbeaten or discouraged , especially around the time of the full Moon on the 10th , and devote more time and attention to your general health and wellbeing . |
| 25 | But I refuse to be tempted : I really have no literary ambition at all ; I do n't need to conform to a prevailing stereotype in the search for distinguished and illustrious positions . |
| 26 | The only problem with the theory , from the point of view of a journalist , is that agents — as opinionated and informed as anyone in the trade — are rightly jealous of their relationships with editors and publishers , and so they refuse to be quoted on anything critical . |
| 27 | We began by talking politics , which he enjoyed doing with someone not out to convert him to socialism — then , as now , the established faith of most intellectuals — and , referring to A. L. Rowse 's fervent attempts , the first of many , to persuade him to join the Labour Party , he flung wide his arms and said : ‘ I refuse to be tied down to allegiances of this kind . ’ |
| 28 | ‘ But I refuse to be one of your doting cavalcade of admirers . ’ |
| 29 | I refuse to be a prisoner ! ’ |
| 30 | I refuse to be mollified with coffee . |